Trump claims 'sick conspiracy' on AI benefits China, touts US regulatory power

US President Donald Trump asserted Monday on his Truth Social platform that the federal government maintains sweeping oversight authority over artificial intelligence firms, declaring that "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a strong and smart (high IQ!) president, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades." The US leader argued that Washington holds "tremendous criminal and regulatory power" over tech enterprises, alleging that critics are waging a "sick conspiracy" targeting AI systems and data centers that only satisfies Chinese interests.

Trump specifically singled out Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for "pretending to be a 'perfect little angel'" amid escalating industry debates over the pace of AI development, building on his resistance Sunday to slowing domestic AI expansion. Warning what he called "conspiracy theorists, treasonists, traitors, and leakers," the president affirmed that the US leads global competitors and will maintain dominance because "whoever wins AI, wins!" He later claimed the "only reason" for the debate over AI and data centers is that the US is "leading, by a lot, every other country," adding: "Don't kill the Golden Goose."

White House warns of 'Trojan horse' lobbying

US Vice President JD Vance confirmed that advanced technology brings concerns, telling reporters that the administration wants "to make sure that we actually regulate smartly and we're thoughtful about the risk here." Vance characterized corporate lobbying for state restrictions as potentially disingenuous, adding: "You have so many frontier AI tech companies coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them, it feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse." He stressed that Washington must remain careful while maintaining its advantage against China.

Beijing rejects 'fear-mongering' amid safety debate

China rejected Trump's framing on Monday, warning against "fear-mongering" and confrontation in the sector. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that technological progress affects the "common well-being of all humanity," urging nations to advance an "open, inclusive and universally beneficial" environment rather than engaging in "malicious competition" that damages global governance. The international friction coincides with growing calls across the tech industry to moderate the speed of model deployment, with Amodei releasing a public essay Saturday proposing that firms deliberately slow the rate of capability growth to ensure safety protocols keep pace with advanced systems, drawing support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who confirmed that his company would adopt similar measures.